Adultery And Other Choices (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
Adultery is a choice…among many others.Andre DubusAdultery & Other ChoicesOpen Road, New York, 2010Adultery and Other Choices consists of nine short stories and a novella. The book is broken into three parts, in which Dubus skillfully depicts the strifes and challenges of real life, and at the same time, mirrors the progression of complex obstacles as we age through each part. Part one contains five short stories with the theme centering around the struggles of the characters in their youth. An Afternoon with the Old Man, Contrition and The Bully focus on Paul Clement, a young boy who lives in Louisiana, and shows his struggles transitioning into manhood. In An Afternoon with the Old Man, the mother says to Paul, “You should talk more with Daddy. He loves y’all very much, but he doesn’t know how to talk to children,” (p.8). This depicts the relationship between them, and what the three short stories ultimately center around.Graduation focuses on a girl, Bobbie, struggling with her reputation, as well as her high school relationships. Her problems center on her learning about boys, and getting through high school as a misunderstood girl, and reinventing herself when she goes to college.The Fat Girl was by far my favorite short story in this book. It follows Louise and her struggle with obesity since childhood, through college, and after. It really captures a problem that is prominent in society today.Part two has four short stories, focusing on military stories and the characters’ struggles, which are more adult in nature. In Cadence, the reader once again sees Paul Clement, but as a young man entering the Marine Corps. The story follows him and his decision to enter the marines and his having to stick to his decision, even though he wants to quit.The other three stories, Corporal of Artillery, The Shooting and Andromcahe all center on married life in the military. Andromache is the only story in this section that follows mostly the wife. Ellens pilot husband dies, and she recalls times before her husbands death “Her memories of Joe were alive: he was talking, he was smiling at her, he was stern, he was walking on the cold beach at Whidbey Island, or kissing her and going to the plane.”(p.103).The final part of the story, Adultery, is a novella about Edith, a wife who commits adultery with an ex-priest and her internal struggle along the way.The immediacy Dubus writes with is incredible. He portrays his characters--all ordinary people in ordinary places--with ease. This book is most appropriate for young adults or older, because the diction is easy to follow, but every word used in each story was tactfully placed and holds meaning. Everything said is done so on purpose, and Dubus doesn’t add any fluff to clutter his short stories. Dubus’ writing is clean, and his sentences vary in structure, adding to the books tempo. In each story, he narrates as an observer, which says even more about his writing. Without allowing the reader directly into his characters minds, the reader still understands so much about them through their small, revealing moments. This book was one unlike any other I have read. The stories work together in the recurring theme of distant relationships, and keep the reader intrigued until the end.
More great stories from a master of the genre. This collection, written in the mid '70s, contains three sections: the first is a group of semi-related stories; most follow the young life of Paul Clement, although the last story of the bunch "The Fat Girl" stands on its own and is the best of the group.Part 2 of the collection are narratives with the Marines as a common element. "Corporal of Artillery" and "Andromache" are both superb.The final section of the book is the novella "Adultery" - a connected story to two other novellas of Dubus which are presented in choronology in We Don't Live Here Anymore.For first time Dubus readers I wouldn't recommend starting with this choice (his collected short stories is the place to start). But it is still a great collection by one of the best short fiction authors.
What do You think about Adultery And Other Choices (1994)?
"The title story alone will make it worth your while to go out and get the book."— New York Times Book Review"('Adultery') is a stunning vision of loss, domination and redemption, and Andre Dubus is a wonderful writer."— Boston Globe"All his work is informed by a quality rare in fiction: compassion."— The Philadelphia Inquirer"Dubus controls his voice tightly, and the observations he chooses to release to us, while seemingly random and often light-hearted, have beneath them almost a wild, frantic quality."— Chicago Tribune
—David R. Godine
Some absolutely beautiful, affecting stories that focus more on raw emotional content than typical literary tricks. A great counterbalance to the MFA style of writing that i see so often, the Flanner O'Connor or Junot Diaz stuff, stories that employs clever phrasing or themes to carry the narrative weight. The best of these stories feel like lived experience rather than a clever literary game. There are no blatant metaphors or symbols---just life, boiled onto the page.The best of the batch:Graduation (9)The Fat Girl (9)Corporal of Artillery (9)Andromache (10)Adultery (9)
—Eraserhead
